Chapter 2833: After the Next One, There Is Still Another

Jialou Tianzun once said that the primordial power of the Nine Nether was his greatest reliance.

This fellow truly has some quick wits; no wonder the Holy Venerable values him. The Goddess of Illusory Music spoke with satisfaction:

"Interesting, truly interesting. Then I shall act as host according to this method and entertain them well."

Duanmu Heng lowered his head slightly: "The Holy Venerable instructed beforehand that if you can keep the Nine Nether in the dream, you will be the number one meritorious contributor in this Divine Descent War."

"I will certainly do my utmost." The Goddess of Illusory Music gave a light laugh, and the phantom of the purple butterfly slowly faded in midair.

Duanmu Heng pressed his temples again and reread the intelligence.

The offensive in reality cannot slacken either; a two-pronged approach is needed to capture the Coiling Dragon Secret Realm as soon as possible.

……

The Purple Flower Bewildering Dream shattered into pieces, melting like spring snow. The Earth Mother was hesitating in her heart, waiting to leave the dream, yet felt a chill beneath her feet.

Huh, there's water?

She looked down and saw that water had welled up from underground at some unknown time, and the water level was rising higher and higher.

This is truly bizarre; clearly every ground fissure is a bottomless abyss, water should flow downward, so why is water gushing up from within the abyss?

The Earth Mother's heart full of joy instantly turned to nothing.

Just what is going on!

In just over ten breaths, the Purple Flower Dream Realm completely vanished, and the Earth Mother's whole body was soaked in water.

No, strictly speaking, she was standing in the sea, a shallow sea.

Before her eyes lay a vast ocean, not a single island in sight.

The Earth Mother's heart turned cold; looking back, she discovered she was not far from the sandy shore, merely a few zhang away.

Time to go up; she couldn't just keep floating in the water.

She steadied her mind and walked onto the beach step by step.

The sand was white and fine, a few small crabs scuttled in and out of rock crevices, and seabirds crouched among the reefs, stretching their heads out sneakily.

A few small fishing boats were also beached on the shore, with neatly arranged fishing nets on them.

A dense forest lined the coastline.

Some clamorous sounds came from behind the forest, but they were not the sound of the tide.

Where is this place again?

The Earth Mother was dejected, had no mood to move, and stood in place for a good while before stepping forward.

She had rejoiced too early just now; the Purple Flower Bewildering Dream was indeed broken by her, but the Goddess of Illusory Music seemed to have immediately stuffed her into the next dream realm!

The Earth Mother was puzzled; she held Wind and Dew, shouldn't she return directly to reality?

If she can continue to break this dream realm, are there even more bewildering dreams waiting for her behind?

This place is both a dream realm and a Divine Kingdom; some laws must differ from mortal dream realms, right?

Could the only way to leave the Dream Divine Kingdom be to defeat the Illusory Music?

The Earth Mother pondered while pushing aside the undergrowth and walking forward.

After walking another two hundred zhang or so, the forest came to an end, and the view suddenly opened up:

Ahead loomed a city.

A small seaside city.

There seemed to be quite a few people; there were shops inside the city, while outside they didn't even need to set up stalls — most people just squatted on the ground with a few small basins in front of them.

The basins held their wares — either seafood or fruits and vegetables, either spices or chickens and ducks — and the crowd's bargaining gestures resembled finger-guessing games.

The moment the Earth Mother walked out, she immediately caused a sensation.

A woman selling fish pointed at her and screamed, her face pale with terror.

The miraculous thing was that the Earth Mother could actually understand; the woman was shouting: "The monster's here, the man-eating monster is here again!"

Although the Earth Mother's appearance bore no resemblance to humans, how did this woman associate her with the words "man-eating"?

What does "again" mean?

Right, her height here was no different from ordinary people, not conspicuous at all.

At the woman's shout, everyone picked up their basins and ran into the city.

At this moment the advantage of basins showed — pick one up and go, no need for the trouble of packing up a stall.

Only then did the Earth Mother see that a wooden sign by the city bore a name, the strokes a bit crooked:

Haidong Liao.

So this is the name of the place. Useless; the Earth Mother still didn't know where this was, after all this is the Goddess of Illusory Music's dream realm, not hers.

She only knew this was a sea island.

The Goddess of Illusory Music probably learned her lesson and didn't dare let her set foot on solid ground again. Even if the Earth Mother unleashed her divine might once more and shook the entire city, the entire island to collapse, it wouldn't matter, because beneath the island lies the vast ocean!

The moment this "monster" Earth Mother appeared, bells rang chaotically inside Haidong Liao, people rushed inside, the city gates then closed, and the streets outside were empty.

Before the city gates closed, the Earth Mother noticed the island residents were short and dark-skinned; this small city reeking of seafood was filthy and dilapidated, utterly incomparable to those neat and beautiful houses on the Earth Mother's plains, but —

This island, this city, didn't have a single trace of the color purple.

Not a single thing could make her associate it with the Goddess of Illusory Music.

In fact, if she hadn't just broken the Purple Flower Bewildering Dream and arrived here, she would never have linked this sea city to the Goddess of Illusory Music.

The Earth Mother walked and thought, how should she get out?

This sea island didn't look large; using brute force to break through like last time might not be impossible. But what if the Goddess of Illusory Music has arranged another dream realm for her?

What if after the next dream realm, there is yet another?

Her soul power is limited after all, unlike in reality where her strength is boundless; once exhausted, she might truly fall into a deep slumber.

Therefore, she must be cautious.

Ge Mu walked and muttered, didn't Bao Chi Hai say that illusory dreams must be built by real people? Won't there still be someone sleeping in the current Crouching Dragon Moat? Then, what is the dream of the Goddess of Illusory Music built upon?

The grass ahead rustled softly, Ge Mu became alert, pushed aside the grass to look, and saw a dark-skinned islander, in his thirties, gaunt and thin.

Probably because the hut door closed too quickly, he couldn't get back, so he hid here.

Seeing Ge Mu, the islander was frightened and screamed, clutching his head and scurrying away like a rat.

Ge Mu grabbed his collar with one hand and dragged him back: "Shut up!"

It knew these people could understand.

The man clutched his head and screamed for help.

Ge Mu grew impatient: "Shut up, or I'll eat you!"

This remark worked wonders; the man indeed shut his mouth, but kept trembling incessantly.

"I ask you, what place is this?" Ge Mu also felt a bit foolish—wasn't this just a dream? Was it necessary to pursue it?

"The sea, Hai Dong Liao!"

"Where is it located?"

"On the sea."

Ge Mu grew angry, slapped him twice: "Do man-eating monsters often appear here?"

"Not often, but sometimes." The man pointed to the sea surface, "They will crawl up from the sea to seize and eat people."

Just like how Ge Mu appeared, no wonder people are afraid.

Upon further questioning, Ge Mu learned that the man-eating monsters occasionally came ashore from the sea, raiding Hai Dong Liao, sometimes in groups, sometimes in pairs or threes.

This town is rather dilapidated, these people rather weak, not looking like they could resist monsters.

"Can you hold them off?"

"Relying solely on ourselves, we certainly cannot."